Arabic websites make history with native script addresses
(
0) Print This

By Glenn Chapman

Middle East Online/AFP

Sunday, May 9, 2010

"All three are Arabic script domains, and will enable domain names written fully right-to-left," said Kim Davies of ICANN.

Internet addresses written in Arabic are making history as the first online domains in non-Latin characters, with Chinese and Thai expected to follow close behind.

"For the first time in the history of the Internet, non-Latin characters are being used for top-level domains," the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said in an online message.

"Arabic has now become the first non-Latin script to be used as an Internet domain name."

Top-level domain names serve as sort of a postal code for online addresses, with widely known examples including .com, .org, and .net.

New top-level domains were designated for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

"All three are Arabic script domains, and will enable domain names written fully right-to-left," Kim Davies of ICANN said Thursday in a blog post.

"Expect more as we continue to process other applications."

Egypt claimed the first non-Latin script Website in a new ".Masr" domain.

Websites with online addresses in Arabic are available in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Arabic is among the most highly used languages on the Internet today," ICANN said.

"Users in the (Middle East) will now have easier access to the Internet, with the ability to use their primary language for the entire domain name."

It is up to countries with new top-level domains to launch them in ways that give people day-to-day use, according to Davies.

Languages with native domain script names in the final stages of the approval process include Chinese, Sinhalese, Tamil and Thai, according to ICANN.

A request by the China Internet Network Information Center for domain names in simplified and traditional Chinese was listed among the non-Latin script address applications that are well along a "fast track" to approval.

Hong Kong and Taiwan were in the queue for top-level domain names in local script, as were Sri Lanka, the Russian Federation, and several other Arab countries.

"The fast track process is working really well for many countries," ICANN's Tina Dam said on Thursday in an online message.

"We are very much looking forward to seeing how the market will adopt and use these (new non-Latin domain names)."

In January, the global agency overseeing Internet domain names said Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates could begin creating online addresses in their native languages.

If you appreciated this article, please consider making a donation to Axis of Logic.
We do not use commercial advertising or corporate funding. We depend solely upon you,
the reader, to continue providing quality news and opinion on world affairs.Donate here